Blu-ray Sales: Indiana Jones Raids Blu-ray Sales Chart

October 2nd, 2012

There was a wide variety of new releases to reach the top ten on the Blu-ray Sales Chart this week. Indiana JonesBlu-ray Box Set opened in first place with 239,000 units / $15.55 million, which is excellent for a box set.
The Cabin in the Woods debuted in second place with 227,000 units / $4.53 million during its first week of release. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 54%. This is great start, but one I was expecting, as the Fanboy effect here is strong. Snow White and the Huntsman was right behind with 227,000 units / $5.66 million for the week and 1.12 million units / $23.52 million after two. Titanic fell to fourth place with 132,000 units / $3.95 million for the week and 472,000 units / $12.45 million after two. This film was one of the biggest hits in theaters, so selling well as a catalogue title is not surprising. While Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3 earned first place on the DVD sales chart, it only managed fifth place on the Blu-ray sales chart with 83,000 units / $2.07 million. On the other hand, an opening week Blu-ray share of 22% isn't bad for a live action kids movie.

Katy Perry: Part of Me opened in seventh place, which is actually better than it did on DVD. It sold 71,000 units and generated $1.20 million for an opening week Blu-ray share of 39%. Can't complain about that. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel only managed ninth place with 41,000 units / $949,000, or a opening week Blu-ray share of just 15%. It was the wrong genre and the wrong target demographic for high definition. Up next were a couple of TV on DVD releases with Supernatural: Season Seven in 11th place with 34,000 units / $1.35 million. TV on DVD tends to struggle on high definition, so an opening week Blu-ray share of 18% is not terrible, but it is a little disappointing for a show of this genre. Modern Family: Season Three debuted in 14th place with 24,000 units / $720,000. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 19%, which is very good for a sitcom. Up next were a trio of catalogue titles, starting with Judge Dredd in 16th place with 19,000 units / $248,000. Ed Wood earned 19th place with 14,000 units / $185,000. And finally there's Hocus Pocus in 23rd place with 2,400 units / $44,000.

The overall Blu-ray market was weak, down compared to last week and last year. Compared to last week, sales were down 26% in terms of units and 12% in terms of revenue. Compared to last year, the results were about the same, but in reverse, down 14% in terms of units and 26% in terms of revenue. DVD sales were also down falling 19% in terms of units and 18% in terms of revenue from last week. DVDs held up better when compared to last year, down 4% in terms of units and were in a virtual tie in terms of revenue (down less than 0.1%). The overall Blu-ray share remained relatively steady at 35% in terms of units and 47% in terms of revenue.

Next week... we will break records. The new releases are led by The Avengers. I don't want to over-hype this release, but it should sell more than the entire market did this week and more than the entire market did last year. It might sell more than those two figures combined. Last year's new releases were led by Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which sold 716,000 DVDs and 1.26 million Blu-rays. If The Avengers doesn't at least double that, I would be shocked.